I thought Casino Royale was tremendous. I thought his action was quite extraordinary—he did more action in the first 30 seconds of the film than I did in 14 years of playing Bond. To me, he looks like a killer. He looks as though he knows what he’s doing. I look as though I might cheat at backgammon.

As I awkwardly crawled over him to get off the couch, I stumbled a bit. “Sorry,” I asked, “Did I just sit on your dick?” (NOTE: I am an eternal romantic). “No,” he answered, “…but why don’t you do that before you leave?” And, there it was: the reason his wife left.

Apple’s products say “no” a lot. No, you can’t have that hardware keyboard or removable battery. No, you can’t install that app. No, you can’t have that feature. […] As Apple has grown, so has the number of people who have fallen on the wrong end of its opinionated product design.

Dredd is the second attempt to bring the exploits of Mega-City One’s finest to the screen, after a disappointing attempt in 1995. Karl Urban (Eomer in LOTR and Dr McCoy in the new Trek) dons the helmet as the notorious judge to take down Ma-ma, a drug lord (Lena Headey) occupying one of Mega-City One’s skyscrapers. That’s all you need to know, and pretty much all there is to know. Dredd, being Dredd, has a job to do and will brook no interference.

Dredd‘s action scenes are brutal and unsentimental, taking great pleasure in the graphic disintegration of the human body, every bit as lovingly as in the comic. It’s also laced with dark humor and a suitably mean streak. Fans of the comic will find little reason to gripe: criminals are handled with little or no mercy, and Dredd’s face always stays where it should be – beneath the helmet.

Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) fights by his side, as the rookie being assessed for the job. (I assume screenwriter Alex Garland wanted to give at least one of the leads something of a character arc, because I remember a similar rookie storyline from the comic, only with a male judge.)

On release, Dredd was roundly drubbed and accused of being monotonous and taking itself too seriously, but I respectfully disagree; Dredd is a faithful adaptation, but you have to be in on the joke to enjoy it fully. Furthermore, it’s not the creators’ fault that that the actual world is catching up to many of the less savory aspects of the comic’s prediction of the future.

Some will think that I have strayed from scripture – that I am no longer an evangelical. I have formed my view, however, not out of any disregard for the Bible’s authority, but by way of grappling with it and, through prayerful reflection, seeking to take it seriously.

The site is a collection of musings and asides, as well as quotes and links I find interesting and/or useful. I am a keen photographer and a fan of film and literature, and the site reflects my interests.